Mass and humanization : from Canetti to Sloterdijk / Massa e humanização : de Canetti a Sloterdijk

AUTOR(ES)
DATA DE PUBLICAÇÃO

2009

RESUMO

This work proposes to examine the phenomenon of human masses and their cultural, social and political implications for the XXIth century. Taking as its point of depart Elias Canetti s classic essay Mass und Macht (1960), the study continues with an examination of two texts by Peter Sloterdijk, Regeln für den Menschenpark (1999) and Die Verachtung der Massen (2000), and seeks to clarify the transformations of the concept of mass between these two authors, from Canetti s black and molar mass to the gaseous and colorful mass of Sloterdijk. Without the pretension of examining the concept of mass through the whole history of political philosophy, its aim is to make clear how the reflection on the nature, the potential and risks of the masses has an increasingly important role in thinking about contemporary politics and culture. The disastrous experiences of the great world wars has shown the urgency of a serious analysis of the directed or spontaneous conduct of the masses, especially for those who want to think about what the ideas of democracy or humanity can still mean today. If, as Sloterdijk remarked, humanism is no longer capable of domesticating contemporary man, as he is increasingly bombed by brutal media, other antropotechniques - more effective than the old humanism to attain human domesticating - should replace it in the name of a particular project of humanity. Mass and humanization present themselves today as closely related topics, and to reflect about what it means to be human today and what could that mean tomorrow requires greater understanding of the phenomena of mass in the century that begins

ASSUNTO(S)

cultura de massa humanismo culture mass comportamento de massa media humanism midia collective behavior

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